Cooksey Connects

Archive for the ‘Customer Service’ Category

Of all of the urban myths that float about on the Internet, this one seemed worthy of re-posting. There’s no way to verify it’s authenticity.

In addition to communicating with the local Air Traffic Control facility, all aircraft in the Persian Gulf AOR are required to give the Iranian Air Defense Radar (military) a ten minute ‘heads up’ if they will be transiting Iranian airspace.

This is a common procedure for commercial aircraft and involves giving them your call sign, transponder code, type of aircraft, and points of origin and destination.

I just flew with a guy who overheard this conversation on the VHF Guard (emergency) frequency 121.5 MHz while flying from Europe to Dubai.

The conversation went like this…

Iranian Air Defense Radar: ‘Unknown aircraft you are in Iranian airspace. Identify yourself.’

Aircraft: ‘This is a United States aircraft. I am in Iraqi airspace.’
Air Defense Radar: ‘You are in Iranian airspace. If you do not depart our airspace we will launch interceptor aircraft!’

Aircraft: ‘This is a United States Marine Corps FA-18 fighter. Send ‘em up, I’ll wait!’

Air Defense Radar: (no response … total silence)

Making assumptions about who is really calling the shots, even in the midst of a highly regulated environment, can be dangerous. The real lesson, though, is the confident response of the USMC pilot. He was compliant of the rules. He was respectful. He only told the truth. In the end, it was the confidence of his own abilities and strengths which were left to speak for themselves.

Even when you know you are right, sometimes the best response is one of quiet confidence.

Be confident. Be bold. Define YOUR success!

Let me begin by saying, when it comes to Internet access: I’m CHEAP. To be honest, I haven’t directly paid for it in at least three years (except for a few times when I was stranded at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago- read the post here). I’m using the term “directly” to mean I haven’t had a paid-for connection…I’m a fan of coffee shops, restaurants, unknowing neighbors who don’t lock their wireless routers, and friends (you know who you are, and I THANK YOU!)

This afternoon, I visited one of my regular haunts today to check up on some email, browse the web, and get a little writing done. Easily, I frequent one of this chain’s stores a minimum of 4 times a week-each time purchasing AT A MINIMUM a cup of over-priced, mediocre coffee (for those of you wondering, it’s Panera Bread). If you factor in the expensive sandwiches, coffee, softdrinks, and occasional freshly baked cookie…you’d see that the “free wi-fi” seemingly does it’s job to attract a flurry of salespeople, free agent contractors, and students inside to drive up sales. I digress…

So today, I noticed something new on the menu listed under “Featured Bagels” called the Cranberry Walnut Bagel. Just underneath it, read the words “with reduced fat Honey Walnut Cream Cheese Spread” and a single price quoted at $1.25. Hooray for the “bagel special”! The cookies here are nearly that much and not nearly as filling. $2.86 later, the fellow who had taken my order handed me the soft drink cup and tray with the bagel. No spread. He was agast. “Actually, the spread is extra.” I replied to the contrary, indicating that was not represented as such by the sign posted. Standing by his word, the employee went in search of backup. He found a manager (maybe a shift leader), to whom he colorfully exclaimed “Hey, are we DOING that?!”, as he pointed at the sign clearly indicating that they were-at least for the customer who just ordered based on what it stated. Now backed up by mangagement, he continued to deny me the spread. Annoyed, as I began my turn to the self-service soda fountain, I paused, looked the manager in the eye and said, “You really need to fix your sign.”

After filling my drink, I returned to the counter and decided to press my luck and hope for “No Whammies“. I again pulled out my wallet, and began to order up some spread (come on…the bagel would be really dry without it). Another patron who’d overheard my previous exchange said, “You know, if they put it on the sign, they have to honor it. If not, it’s false advertising.” I paused and said, “You’re right”, turning back to the employee, “I really think you should give me the spread”. To his credit, he did. But not before the manager disgustedly pulled the sign down from the menu posted on the wall above the register.

Okay. This was all over about less than $1.00 worth of “missed up-sell” to an obviously regular customer at this location. The kid behind the register was so concerned about doing something wrong, he was afraid to make a simple exception…really to only one person. It’s not like they were lined up with a breakfast rush where potentially 20 people would exploit this mistakenly offered deal. It was nearly 4:00 in the afternoon and there weren’t 20 people in the entire restaurant!

I was polite, but firm. In fact, I almost backed down to not create a scene. Happy that I apparently had scored the “deal of the day” without really trying, I sat down at a table and was approached by another extremely polite employee (who is also a very chatty senior citizen of this great country who sometimes forgets there is a line of people waiting to order, but hey…is that so bad?) who stopped by to say “I agree with you about the spread. I can’t believe they would give so much hassle to a customer who’s as regular in here as you are.” I thanked her for the support, and reminded her they’d made it right.

The next time you see an error of negligible value that seems to be in the favor of one of YOUR customer, new or loyal… the correct answer is to 1) smile, 2) admit it’s in their favor, 3) let ‘em “get away with it”, and 4) enjoy the goodwill of a satisfied customer. Otherwise, he’s going to sit in a booth in YOUR RESTAURANT, using YOUR BANDWIDTH, to publish to the world how silly your employees are because you haven’t allowed them any OWNERSHIP of their job or EMPOWERED THEM TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO YOUR CUSTOMERS.

Now, what did I do with that receipt? It’s time to fill out the customer survey. I wonder if they know about the blog, if it will improve my chances of winning the $2000 give away offered to survey respondents?

p.s. The bagel with the “recommended” spread was VERY yummy.

Lately, I’ve done my share of travel, speaking in high schools for Monster.com’s Making It Count Programs. In a typical month, I may find myself boarding as many as 12-15 planes – each one with it’s own flight crew – Each flight crew, it’s own personality.

Last week, I boarded a flight from Tulsa, OK (TUL) to Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH). It was the same old routine. My wheelie bag was gate-checked, backpack stowed below the seat in front of me, flight attendant rattled off the safety instructions as I fiddled with my iPod, and we were off.

Shortly after the pilot leveled out for the trip, the attendant began drink service (oh…and peanuts!) for those of us on this short flight. As the cart parked just beyond Seat 11A, I heard a voice ask, “What would you like to drink today, Mr. Cooksey?”

“Um…wow! Did you say ‘Mr. Cooksey’? Well, I’ll have a Diet Coke, please.”

In all of my traveling, I have NEVER had a flight attendant call me by my name for any reason. Not even traveling in First Class!

A little later in the flight, I stopped the attendant as she headed up the aisle to thank her for actually calling me by name. She replied, “Well, this job isn’t really rocket science so I decided a few years ago to try calling passengers by name. And you know, I’ve learned a lot of interesting names and met some very nice people!”

Well, Judy McClure of Continental Airlines, you made my otherwise routine flight something memorable. In fact, your attention to detail and going the extra mile just to help make your day a little more interesting made such an impression on me I almost forgot about the poorly designed touch-screen kiosk at the check-in counter….almost.

This week’s travel grind is continues to prove challenging. I learned of a mis-scheduled speech 90 minutes before heading to the airport yesterday (read: I spent the night in Houston, TX last night because it was cheaper than re-booking my flight to Cincinnati), ran into some issues with the credit card I use for travel (that’s another blog ENTIRELY), and at this writing have been stranded at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport since early this afternoon. At last update, I was scheduled on the 6:15PM to Cincinnati which will allegedly depart around 8:30pm.

While plagued with typical winter travel via Chicago issues (cancellations, delays, a surplus of downtime), I was reminded why I find it so important to speak on topics of finance…heck, not even finance- money.

Shortly after landing here today, I thought I’d enjoy a tasty yogurt parfait for lunch. Spotting one at the Starbucks booth near the gate of my later cancelled flight, I walked up to the three…THREE…people working behind the counter, when I was greeted with “Our thing is down. If you’d like, you can come back a little later.” To which I responded, “I suppose I don’t really have a choice, do I?” Then received, “No. You really don’t.”

Last time I checked, a barrista doesn’t need to use a computer to do anything related to actually making me a cup of coffee or selling me food…except for handling the money. Ahhhhh, therein lies the issue. Money.

I stepped away, walking back down the corridor about 2 gates to a booth for Uno’s Chicago Pizza where I was met by a polite man puzzled that his register, too, was down. Only his response was quite different. When I inquired about the parfaits he had in his chiller (identical to the one I’d spotted early), he said, “Well, my register is down, but if you have cash, we can do this!” “Really?”, I replied, “I have cash!” So he grabbed a pen and a scrap of paper, scribbled down some quick numbers (**carry the one….**) and for $5.60, proudly sold me a parfait….AND A BANANA! Just my making my transaction possible, I picked up the “impulse purchase”.

As I picked up my goods, I thanked him and said he should consider holding a class for the people over at Starbucks…for not having a register simply BLEW THEIR MINDS!

Come on, people! It’s a $6.00 cup of coffee. It’s probably okay if you made the math easy and sold a few cheapies when your register goes down..heck, how about a free one?

To every teacher who took the time to make sure I knew how to use basic math, THANK YOU!

Good grief!

Southwest Airlines is known for its whimsical, no-frills approach. As far as I know, it’s the only airline that mails out birthday cards (I get one every year), sends free drink (read: beer, wine, liquor) coupons to frequent flyers, and operates what may be the industry’s simplest free-ticket program (8 round-trips and you’re done….They don’t care about air miles.) For the most part, they get it right….at least for the casual or flexible flyer. I actually listened once to the safety monologue at the beginning of the flight because the attendant started it with “There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 6 ways to get off of this aircraft, so you might want to listen up!” For my uptight, retentive friends, it’s a little too loosey-goosey, but hey, the fares are relatively cheap, and the flights are pretty well on time.

Perhaps the most defining element of the airline, however, is what so many of us travelers have dubbed “the cattle call”, or as the industry calls it: open seating. At first, this was pretty cool. Show up early, earn the right to board ahead of others and pick your seat. Show up late…you’re likely stuck in the middle seat somewhere near the back. (Maybe that’s what the drink tickets are for.)

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any goofier, Southwest Airlines has done it again. They have changed their trademark boarding system. Arriving at the gate for a recent flight, I found a number of 8-foot tall, chrome signposts adorned with placards covered with a somewhat confusing array of numbers and arrows. Granted, once I sat down, ate a yogurt parfait for breakfast, and considered their purpose for about 20 minutes, I seemingly figured it out. The senior citizens who showed up closer to boarding time, though, were utterly confused.

It seems now, instead of receiving a boarding group status of A (flyers 1-30), B (31-60), or C (61-90) + everyone else; now each boarding pass has not only a letter, but a sequential number as well. Today, I was “A-29”. I had checked in online last night from home and printed my pass this morning at the office….HOURS before I could have done the same at the airport. This new system was best described by this retired fellow who seemed both annoyed and entertained at the signs. “I guess three lines (A, B, C) of a bunch of people was too difficult, so now they have about 20 lines of 5 people.”

(Note: The following day, on my return flight, I arrived at the gate to find much better designed “line markers”–see photo– bolted to the floor and much less confusing….Let’s call it a “quick learning curve”.)

Do you think the new boarding procedure is a success, or a failure? Sound off with your comments!

As many of us have experienced, a ‘going away’ party was held recently at an office near Little Rock, Arkansas.

One of the supervisors called a Wal-Mart and ordered the cake.

He told them to write:

‘Best Wishes Suzanne’ and underneath that write ‘We will miss you’.

As the picture shows, it didn’t quite turn out right.

I sure hope this was a freebie!